Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-01-21

Inc brightest life must have its shodo,rs
and the smoothest path it's thorns. IN the
nappiest brood the hawk pounces. No ess
cape from trouble of some kind. While
glorious John Milton was losing his eve.
sighI ne heard that Salmasius was glad of
II. Whlie Sheridan's comedy was being
e e IN Drury Lane Theater, Cumber.
l la ms enemy, sat growing at it in the
s se,sse o9&' While Bishop Cooper was sur
wife took his lexicon manuscrint. The ras
suit of long life of anxiety and toll. and
threw it into the fire. Misfor-
tune, trial, veaation for almost
every one. Pope, applauded of all the
Wofld, mas stoop in the shoulder that
annoys him SO much that he has a tunnel
dug, SO that he may go unobserved from
garden to grotto and from grotto to garden.
Cane, the famous Spanish artist, is dis.
gusted with the cruciix that the priest
holds before him, because it is such poor
specimen of culture. And so, sometimes
.hrongn taste and sometimes through
learned menace, and sometimes through
pnysicai dlstresses-aye, in ten thousand
ways, troubles come to harass and annoy.
ana yet 1t is unfair to measure mans life
Dy MS mlsfortunes, because where there is
one stalk of nightshade there are fifty
marogelds and harebells; where there is
one cloud thunder charged there are hun
dreds that stray across the heavens, the
glory OF land and sky asleep in their
bosom: Because death came and took
your child away, did you Immediately for
get oil the five years, or the ten years, or
the fifteen years in which she came every
night for kiss, all the tones of your heart
pealing forth ut the sound of her
voice or the soft touch of her hand?
Because in some financial Euroclydon
your fortune went into the breakers, did
you forget all those years in which the
luxuries and extravaeances of life showered
on your pathway? Alas! that is IN unwise
man, an ungrateful man, an unfair man,
an unphilosophic man, and, most of all,
an unchristian man, who measures his life
tit and abuse, and scorn and terror, and
neuralgia thrust.
Again, remark that there are many
people who estimate their life on earth by
the amount Of hloney they have ace,mu-
lated. They say: "The year 1866, or 1875,
or 1886 was wasted" Why? Made no
money. Now, it is all cant and insincerity
to talk against money as though it had no
value. 1t is refinement, and education, and
ten thousand blessed surroundings. It is
the spreading Of the table that feeds your
children's hunger. 1t is the lightning of
the furnace that keeps you warm. 1t is the
making of the bed on which you rest from
care and anxiety. 1t is the carrying out at
last Of you to decent sepulture, and the
putting up of the slab, on which is chiseled
the story of your Christian hope. 1t
is simply hypocrisy, this TRADE in
pulpit and lecture hall, against money,
as though it had no uses. 1t is hands.
and feet, and sails, and ten thousand
grand and glorious enterprises. But while
all this is SO, he who uses money, or thinks
OF money as anything but a means to an
differing treasures slip out of his nerve
less gasp. and he goes out Of this world
without shilling of money or n certificate
of stock. He might better have been the
Christian porter that opened his gate, OF
the begrimed workman who last night
heaved the coal into his cellar. Bonds and
mortgages and leases have their use. but
they make poor yardstick with which to
measure life. They that boast themselves
i'll their wealth, and trust on the multitude
OF their riches, none of them can by an,
means redeem his brother, nor give to Goo
a ransom for him, that he could not SEE
corruption. Wise men die, likewise the
fool and the british person perish, ant
leave their wealth to Others"
But remark: There are manv-I wish
there were more-who estimate their
life by their moral aud spiritual develop
ment. 1t is not sinful egotis:n for {
Christian man to say: 81 am purer than
used to be. 1 am more consecrated K
Christ than used to be- I have got owe,
a great many of the bad habits in which
used to indulge. I am great deal bette
man than used to be-" There is no sin.
full egotism in that. 1t is not base egotisn
for soldier TO say: II know more abou
military tactics than used to before
took a musket in my hand and learned te
| present arms, and when was q pest Il
the drilling officer" 1t is not base ego.
tism for u sailor to say; Il know how
better to clew down the nlizzentopsail
than used to before I had ever seen .
ship" And there is no sinful egotisn
when o Christian man, fighting the battles
Of the Lord, or if you will have it, voyage
ing toward haven.of eternal rest, Gays
II know more about spiritual tactics, anc
about voyaging toward heaven than 1 use<
to-" Why, there are those in this pres
ence who have measured lances with man,
a foe, and endorsed it. There are Chris
tian men here who have become swarthy
by hammering at the forge of calamity.
They stand on an entirely different plane
of character from that which they once
occupied. They are measuring their Life
on earth by golden-gated Sabbaths. by
pentecostal prayer-aneetings, by comnun.
ion tables, by baptismal fonts, by halle.
lujahs in the temple. They have stood or
Sinai and heard it thunder. They nave
stood on Pisgah and looked over into the
Promised Land. They have stood on Cal.
vary and seen the cross bleed. They cen
like Paul the Apostle, write on their heav-
lest troubles light" and "but for mo.
ment." The darkest night their soul ie ir.
radiated, as was the night over Bethlehem
10y the faces of those who have come te
proclaim glory and good cheer. They
are only waiting for the gate to open, anc
ahe chains to fall off, and the glory tt
begin.
| 1 remark again: There are maryland ]
wish there were more-who are estimating
life by the amount of good they can do
John Bradford said he counted that dag
nothing at all in which he had not, by per
or tongue, done some good. If man be-
gins right, cannot tell how many tears he
may wipe away, how many burdens he may
lift, how many orphans he may comfort,
how many outcasts he may reclaim. There
have been men who have given their whole
life mn the right direction. concentrating all